Lennie Briscoe
Detective Leonard W. "Lennie" Briscoe was a member of the New York City Police Department for more than thirty years, starting as a so-called "beat cop" in the late 1960's. Briscoe first teamed with Detective Mike Logan after Logan's partner Phil Cerreta was shot by a black-market arms dealer and was forced to retire. Since Logan was expelled to Staten Island in 1995, Briscoe has worked with Detective Rey Curtis and later Ed Green. Family Briscoe had two daughters named Cathy and Julia, and his nephew, Ken Briscoe, was also an NYPD detective. His daughter Cathy was arrested for drug possession, and was murdered after testifying in court against the dealer. ( : Damaged) Personality Lennie was a recovering alcoholic. He only fell off the wagon once, after witnessing an execution; Claire Kincaid drove him home, and was struck and killed by a drunk driver. (Aftershock) Briscoe had a rather cynical view about people. His cynicism was especially pronounced around marriage and fidelity, and he would frequently made bitter references to divorce, the futility of love, and lawyers. In Divorce, he once told Rey Curtis that divorce lawyers were "God's way of telling you to stay single." in Couples, he once referred to love as "a dangerous disease instantly cured by marriage." In Privileged, when a lawyer asked if Lennie knew how many matrimonial attorneys were attacked last year, he responded: "I know one that should have been." Skills and Abilities Briscoe was an excellent pool player. He ran a pool table while undercover in Everybody Loves Raimondo's. Early Life Briscoe was born on January 2, 1940. Law & Order, Virus Even though his father was Jewish, he was raised in his mother's faith, Catholicism. He had served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, and attained the rank of corporal. After leaving the Army, Briscoe joined the NYPD in the 29th Precinct and walked a beat there with stops at the 31st Cragen talks to Briscoe in Law and Order SVU's Season 1 Hysteria about a potential officer-rapist in the three-one., 33rd, 110th, and 116th precincts, at some point reaching the rank of detective. He briefly considered attending Brooklyn Law School to become a lawyer. ( : Nowhere Man) He was married and divorced twice. Briscoe was an alcoholic for much of his life. He once told that he wasted "20 years inside a bottle". ( : Guardian) Due to Briscoe's alcoholism, he was often absent from his daughters' lives, and they had a distant, fractious relationships with him as adults. At some point, Lennie parked cars at the Atwater Hotel. ( : Censure) Law and Order Law & Order: Trial By Jury After leaving the homicide division of the NYPD, Briscoe joined the District Attorney's office, becoming a DA Investigator alongside Hector Salazar. He died in 2005, after only a couple of months at that post. Trivia * Briscoe did not vote for George W. Bush, or so he told Randy Porter during a search of Porter's home. ( : Hitman) * Briscoe's detective shield number is 8220. * He occasionally attended Jewish services as a courtesy to his first wife. ( : Blood Libel) References Briscoe, Lennie Briscoe, Lennie Briscoe, Lennie Briscoe, Lennie Briscoe, Lennie Briscoe, Lennie Briscoe, Lennie